Articles of Confederation 4

After the Revolutionary War, the United States government was in a state of frenzied disillusion. In an attempt to solve the problem of a lack of a functioning government, the Articles of Confederation were formed. Often times called the “Articles of Confusion”, the Articles of Confederation paved the way to our modern system of government. Out of the unreliable and unstable Articles, the Constitution was formed. Though the Articles instilled a seemingly well functioning governmental establishment, the Articles were far from a flawless governing mechanism. In the early days of the new British-free America there was a great fear of the new system of government being of the same mold of their former, a monarchy, or even a dictatorship. There was one group of revolutionaries that supported a monarchy being formed. This faction was a section of the Continental Army called the Society of the Cincinnati. They urged the rise of George Washington, a veteran colonial general, as the country’s new king, but Washington refused. In an effort to subside the uproar of the common folk, and to prevent eventual isolation of sovereignty of national affairs unto one person, the Articles granted each state exclusive governing powers over it’s own political matters. By doing this, the Articles prevented the new-formed states from revolting against their own government, and they also gave the states absolute control over their own local and regional matters and political conflicts. In an effort to create a greater sense of unity and national pride in the States, the Articles forced most states with western land claims to forfeit their claims to the federal government, so that the smaller, less populated states would join the union . This did not make any of the states with western territorial expansion content. They felt that the government was starting to take too much authoritative control. With this in mind, the representatives in congress made the...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...called the “Articles of Confederation.” It established a loose league of friendship between thirteen sovereign states and proposed that each state have its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The Articles of Confederation approve in 1781, which led to a period of crisis between the years 1781 and 1789. This period refer as the Critical Period. The Articles of Confederation was the precursor of the United States Constitution because of the many reasons it had weaknesses and replaced by the United States Constitution.
The Constitution of the United States comprises the nation's fundamental law, providing the framework for its governance and the principles under which it must operate. When the constitution was written, it was intended to endure for ages, be flexible, and adaptable for future generations. The constitution was intended to be the supreme law of the land. “To win the required approval from all 13 states, drafters changed the plan and granted the Confederation control of western lands. After four years, the Articles finally won ratification in 1781.” (Created Equal, pg. 177) The Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781, became the first constitution. The Articles of Confederation dealt with three problems: taxation, representation, and the extent of control over western...

...Articles of Confederation Essay
When the Revolutionary War was over and the Americans had won their independence, the revolutionists and republicans leading the new country were quite convinced that their government should differ from that of Britain and have a limited amount of power. Clearly, these men took these ideals more seriously than they should have. They created a constitution for the 13 states known as the Articles of Confederation, which put the majority of power in the hands of these individual states. They were adopted in 1777 after the war and enacted in 1781. The Articles of Confederation were quite a success pertaining to western lands, but proved unbeneficial for the economy of our new country.
Once the war was over, many Americans hoped to expand in the west, and they could successfully do so under the Articles of Confederation through the Northwest Ordinances and the Treaty of Paris, which tripled the size of the new country. For example, the Ordinance of 1784 divided the Western territory into self-governing districts that could each make a constitution and petition Congress for statehood after certain requirements were completed. The Ordinance of 1785 that followed created a system that allowed the land to be surveyed and sold to the public. The greatest accomplishment pertaining to western lands and the Articles of...

...The Articles of Confederation were drafted by John Dickerson in 1776 and were submitted to the states for ratification in November 1777. The Articles were not ratified until March of 1781, since it was required that all states ratify the document. Many states had problems with the Articles and through several compromises, the document was made to suit all the states. Although the Articles provided the United States with an adequate form of government, there were many weaknesses in the document that needed to be fixed.
The Articles of Confederation served as a stepping stone to the United States Constitution, which was later to be written. There were no federal courts, no authority to act directly upon individuals, no power to coerce states, and there had to be unanimous approval of the states for an amendment to be put into action. Unfortunately, the people could not get any help from the government because of the fact that Congress had no power to regulate commerce and that the Articles of Confederation, due to different views, created foreign disputes.
Rawlin Lowndes of South Carolina posed the question in a speech to the House of Representatives (Document H) whether they should keep the Articles or simply revise them. Because the surrounding states didn’t have the time, the power, the money, nor the patience to erect an army to...

...Unit 3, #1 Name ____________________________
Date ________________ Pd ________
America’s First National Government—The Articles of Confederation
II. The Articles of Confederation
A. When Americans declared ___________________________ in 1776, they needed to form a new ___________________________:
1. They wanted to form a __________________________ where citizens ________________ for elected leaders to represent them
2. They wanted to __________________ citizens & individual states from a __________________________ national government
B. Thirteen Independent States
1. When independence was declared, the 13 colonies became _______________________________________________________
2. Each state had its own constitution, ____________________, & an elected governor; 8 states had ________________________
3. But, the USA needed a national gov’t to do things that states could not, like sign ________________ & form a ______________
C. The National Government
1. America’s 1st national gov’t was the _______________________________________________________________ (1777-1789)
2. This “_______________________” style gov’t loosely connected the states under a __________________ national government
a. Structure: Each state could send between 2-7 ___________________________ to the national ______________________, but each state had only...

...The Articles of Confederation was America's first constitution. The Articles of Confederation were adopted by Congress in 1777 and provided for a "firm league of friendship" between the thirteen independent states. The Articles were in force from March 1, 1781, to June 21, 1788 and had both positive and negative effects on the states. The Articles of Confederation provided a very effective form of government with respect to the western lands but, in contrast, the government under the Articles of Confederation struggled in terms of foreign relations.
The Congress of the Confederation passed very significant pieces of legislation dealing with the Old Northwest, the area of land south of the Great Lakes, east of the Mississippi River, and to the northwest of the Ohio River. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the public land policy of the United States that lasted for more than 75 years. The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided that the land of the Northwest should be surveyed and sold with the proceeds sent to the Congressional Congress to help alleviate the national debt. They land that was surveyed was to be divided into townships six miles squared, each of which was then to be separated into thirty-six segments of one square mile each. In this monumental piece of legislation, the sixteenth section of each township was to be set...

...Section I: Essay
The Articles of Confederation was, in a sense, the first United States constitution. It was adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777 and later ratified by all 13 original states on March 1, 1781. The Constitution later replaced the Articles when it was ratified by New Hampshire on June 21, 1788. The two documents have a lot in common, such as being established by the same people, both served to maintain a free government, both referred to the nation as the United States of America, both were the laws of the United States government, and both gave the states the power to regulate commerce, tax citizens, make laws, and provide for a common defense. However, when one looks at the details, they differ much more than they resemble each other. Comparing them can give us true insight as to what the Framers found important in 1781, and what they reconsidered and changed by 1788. The fundamental difference between the Articles and the Constitution is the fact that the Articles made no provision for the new federal government to exercise any power over the individual states, especially when it came to collecting taxes from the states, imposing laws that would apply to the states, and organizing a federal army for which the states would provide soldiers. It can be fairly concluded that the Articles of Confederation gave power to the states and the...

...
"Perhaps the greatest service rendered by the Articles of Confederation was the impetus its shortcomings gave to those who favored a strong central government."
After the Declaration of Independence, there was a sense among Congressman that they wanted a written document creating a government justifying the existence of the United States. The delegates of the Second Continental Congress were attempting to codify arrangements that had never before put into legal terminology. As a result, in late 1777, the Articles of Confederation, creating a loose "league of friendship" between the thirteen sovereign or independent colonies, were passed by the Congress and presented to the states for ratification. The Articles created a type of government where the national government derives its powers directly from the states. The Articles was finally ratified by all the thirteen states in March 1781. Although it had its flaws, the government under the Articles of confederation saw the nation through the Revolutionary War. However, once the British surrendered in 1781, and the new nation found itself no longer united by the war effort, the government quickly fell into chaos.
The Articles of Confederation was written during the War for Independence and at a time when a strong national government was regarded with suspicion. The...

...The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution each had their own impacts on the United States economy. It can be shown that the drafting of the Constitution reversed the control of economic authority between the national government and the states, specifically regarding the laying and levying of taxes. The stipulations of taxation are clarified in the Articles and the Constitution through Article VIII and Article I, Section 8, respectively. Both statements provide for an easy analysis of taxation considering the means of taxation and how it is assessed, who collects the taxes, and the purpose of these duties. An additional observation can be made regarding the effects of slavery on the Constitution and how that is reflective of the economic impacts of the document. With the comparison of these aspects, a conclusion can be made about the reasoning behind the change of this provision in the Articles.
The American Revolution resulted in a substantial amount of debt for the United States. To finance the War of Independence, Congress had borrowed large sums of money by selling interest-bearing bonds and paying soldiers and suppliers in notes to be redeemed in the future (Foner, 200). The Continental Congress owed $42 million at the end of the revolution (Lecture #9). The states lacked a secure source of revenue, so they had to address taxation in their first written constitution, The...